Specsavers optometrists – and brothers – return to Ghana to deliver eye care in rural communities

Specsavers optometrists – and brothers – return to Ghana to deliver eye care in rural communities

Brothers Ian and Neil Stradling are returning to Ghana after their 2024 visit provided eye tests for more than 1,300 people.

The practice directors at Specsavers in Bourne, Spalding and Holbeach, are spending two weeks in the Ashanti region working alongside the Ashanti Development Project. It is a charity which provides vital healthcare, education, clean water and other community initiatives in remote villages.

They’re joining colleagues from Specsavers practices across the East Midlands and a team of 10 local optometrists and optical assistants – hoping to help even more people.

‘It’s estimated that 95% of people that need glasses in Ghana don’t have access to affordable eye care services and glasses. So the work the Ashanti Development does makes a huge difference,’ says Ian.

The brothers first visited the region in 2024. During that trip, the team carried out eye tests for more than 1,300 people, dispensed more than 1,000 pairs of glasses and referred more than 70 people for cataract surgery.

This year they will be in the village of Gyetiase, where access to eye care can be limited. For many of the people seen during the visit, it will be their first eye test.

As well as testing sight and providing glasses, the visiting team has been raising money to fund cataract surgery for people living with avoidable sight loss.

Patients will be identified and screened during the first week of the visit. A specialist surgical team is then due to join the project during the second week to perform cataract operations.

The Specsavers teams have also been collecting old and unwanted glasses from their local communities to take with them.

‘We’d like to say a huge thank you to the local community for getting behind our fundraising efforts and for donating their old or unwanted glasses,’ says Neil. ‘Every pair we can take with us gives us another opportunity to help someone see more clearly. Something that may have been sitting unused in a drawer here can genuinely help transform another person’s daily life.’

The team is continuing its fundraising ahead of the visit: https://gofund.me/80505b29f.